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IMDbPro

Rin Tin Tin(1918-1932)

  • Actor
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Rin Tin Tin
On this IMDbrief - presented by Blue Buffalo - we recognize decorated dogs of film history and a few fidos that deserve kudos for pawesome performances.
Play clip3:31
Uggie, Toto, & Award-Winning Movie Dogs
1 Video
36 Photos
The first 'Rin Tin Tin', who along with his heirs starred in numerous films and television series, was discovered during World War I, September 15, 1918, by US Air Corporal Lee Duncan and his battalion in Lorraine, France. At a bombed out dog kennel, Duncan found a mother Shepherd Dog and her scrawny litter of five pups. Duncan chose two of the dogs, a male and female, while members of his group took the mother and the others back to camp. The only survivors over the next few months were the two pups Duncan had claimed, naming them 'Rin Tin Tin' and 'Nannette' after tiny French puppets the French children would give to the American soldiers for good luck. When the war ended, Duncan made special arrangements to take his pups back to his home in Los Angeles, but during the Atlantic crossing, Nannette became ill and died, shortly after arriving in America. In 1922, Duncan and Rin Tin Tin attended an LA dog show, with 'Rinty' performing for the crowd by jumping 13 ½ feet. Following the show, producer Darryl Zanuck asked Duncan if he could try out his new 'moving pictures' camera on the dog and paid $350 to film Rinty in action. Contacting every studio in Hollywood with a Rin Tin Tin -starring script "Where The North Begins", Duncan unexpectedly stumbled onto a low-budget, Warner Bros (Vitaphone) film crew having difficulty shooting an exterior scene with a wolf. Duncan quickly approached the director and told them that Rinty could do the scene in one take. True to his word, Duncan's 'wonder' dog did the scene in one take and both were hired for the entire shoot of "Man From Hells River". The film was a hit and Rin Tin Tin was a sensation, making 26 pictures for Warners while starring in his own live 1930s radio show "The Wonder Dog". At the peak of his popularity, Warners maintained 18 trained stand-ins to reduce any stress on their dog star, while providing Rinty with a private chef who prepared daily lunches of tenderloin steak (consumed as live classical music was played to help ease the dog's digestion.) Rin Tin Tin died in 1932 at the age of 14, returned to his birthplace in France, and interred in "The Cimetière des Chiens (et Autres Animaux Exotiques)" in the suburb of Asnieres. Today, Rin Tin Tin's continuous bloodline carries on at a Texas kennel, where a litter of 8-11 pups are born each year.
BornSeptember 10, 1918
DiedAugust 10, 1932(13)
BornSeptember 10, 1918
DiedAugust 10, 1932(13)
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  • Awards

Photos36

Carroll Nye and Rin Tin Tin in Land of the Silver Fox (1928)
George Brent, Bob Kortman, and Rin Tin Tin in The Lightning Warrior (1931)
Benjamin H. Kline, Ford Beebe, George Brent, Frank Brownlee, Yakima Canutt, Colbert Clark, Steve Clemente, Frankie Darro, William Desmond, Dick Dickinson, Tom Galligan, Helen Gibson, Wyndham Gittens, Georgia Hale, Bob Kortman, Theodore Lorch, Kermit Maynard, Lafe McKee, Ernest Miller, William Nobles, Pat O'Malley, Bob Reeves, Armand Schaefer, Hayden Stevenson, Al Taylor, and Rin Tin Tin in The Lightning Warrior (1931)
George Brent and Rin Tin Tin in The Lightning Warrior (1931)
George Brent, Georgia Hale, and Rin Tin Tin in The Lightning Warrior (1931)
George Brent, Frankie Darro, Helen Gibson, Georgia Hale, Lafe McKee, Pat O'Malley, and Rin Tin Tin in The Lightning Warrior (1931)
Rin Tin Tin
Lee Duncan and Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin
June Marlowe and Rin Tin Tin in The Lone Defender (1930)

Known for

Helene Costello and Walter Merrill in While London Sleeps (1926)
While London Sleeps
3.2
  • Rinty(as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • 1926
Buck Connors and Rin Tin Tin in Jaws of Steel (1927)
Jaws of Steel
6.6
  • Rinty(as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • 1927
Robert Gordon and Rin Tin Tin in A Race for Life (1928)
A Race for Life
6.6
  • Rinty(as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • 1928
Billy Bletcher, Charles Delaney, Pat Hartigan, John Kelly, John Loder, and Floyd Shackelford in The Man Hunter (1930)
The Man Hunter
4.7
  • Rinty(as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • 1930

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • George Brent and Frank Lanning in The Lightning Warrior (1931)
    The Lightning Warrior
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Edmund Breese and William Irving in Rough Waters (1930)
    Rough Waters
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Billy Bletcher, Charles Delaney, Pat Hartigan, John Kelly, John Loder, and Floyd Shackelford in The Man Hunter (1930)
    The Man Hunter
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Rin Tin Tin in On the Border (1930)
    On the Border
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Rin Tin Tin in The Lone Defender (1930)
    The Lone Defender
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Lupe Velez and Grant Withers in Tiger Rose (1929)
    Tiger Rose
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Show of Shows (1929)
    Show of Shows
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Davey Lee and Rin Tin Tin in Frozen River (1929)
    Frozen River
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Allan Cavan, Tom Dugan, Matty Kemp, Philo McCullough, Evelyn Pierce, and Rin Tin Tin in The Million Dollar Collar (1929)
    The Million Dollar Collar
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Rin Tin Tin in Land of the Silver Fox (1928)
    Land of the Silver Fox
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Audrey Ferris and Rin Tin Tin in Rinty of the Desert (1928)
    Rinty of the Desert
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Robert Gordon and Rin Tin Tin in A Race for Life (1928)
    A Race for Life
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Tom Gallery, Dorothy Gulliver, and Rin Tin Tin in A Dog of the Regiment (1927)
    A Dog of the Regiment
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Buck Connors and Rin Tin Tin in Jaws of Steel (1927)
    Jaws of Steel
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)
  • Virginia Brown Faire, Jason Robards Sr., Tom Santschi, and Rin Tin Tin in Tracked by the Police (1927)
    Tracked by the Police
    • (as Rin-Tin-Tin)

Videos1

Uggie, Toto, & Award-Winning Movie Dogs
Clip 3:31
Uggie, Toto, & Award-Winning Movie Dogs

Personal details

Edit
    • September 10, 1918
    • August 10, 1932
    • Los Angeles, California, USA(infirmatives of age)
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Print Biographies
    • 8 Articles

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    According to legend, in the very first year of voting for the Oscars, Rinty received more votes than any other actor, but to avoid any embarrassment, the Academy eventually decided to award the first Best Actor to a human thespian, Emil Jannings.
    • The Lighthouse by the Sea
      (1924)
      $1,000 / week

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